Decisions which have to be made
by Fungi Fulton
Summary: Harry lived in St.Martha's Children's Home his whole life. When a boy comes to this home his life changes and he has to make decisions he never had thought he'd do.
1. Carl Heinze

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 1 - Carl Heinze

1 November 1981

"Vernon!" Petunia Dursley screeched.

"What is it, dear?" her husband, Vernon Dursley, asked, stepping beside her.

Petunia pointed at the doormat. On it lay a bundle.

"Who on earth abandoned their child on our doormat?" Vernon roared furiously as he figured out what in the bundle was.

"There is a letter, I think," Petunia said, pointing at an envelope on top of the baby.

Vernon grabbed the envelope and tore it open. He began to read. But suddenly he became pale and dropped the letter.

"Vernon...?" Petunia asked worried, touching her husband's arm. "What is it?"

"I'll drive this freak to the nearest children's home!" Vernon said hastily, grabbing his car keys. This is your sister's brat!"

"What!?" his wife shrieked.

"Everything will be fine, dear," Vernon said reassuringly. He took the bundle and jogged to his car. Moments later Petunia saw him drive away into the distance.

* * *

*

* * *

*

* * *

8 Years later

Harry Potter wasn't like anyone else. He was different. he never played with the other children in St. Martha's Children's Home. He never talked to them. All he ever did was read. Because of that he didn't have any friends. Not that he cared. He loved to read. Through reading books he learned, and he liked learning more than the other children did.

New children came to St. Martha's about every month. Usually only one child, but sometimes two or even three. Every other week some kind of couple would come, looking for a child or two to adopt. No one had ever considered adopting Harry though. For them he was too normal. These couples wanted a talented child, and if Harry was something then not talented. He wasn't good at art, or music, sport or singing. However he was intelligent, and for himself it counted more than anything else. Why be talented if you could be intelligent, meaning that you'd get good grades, better chances at colleges and universities and earn more money once you were old enough?

So one day in April Harry was sitting in his room, doing his English homework: a few exercises on punctuation and capital letters.

"Hi, Harry," Kristen, one of the home parents, said, opening the door to his room. "We just got a new boy and thought maybe he could be your room mate. How about that?"

Harry shrugged. He didn't particularly like other kids, but why not?

Kristen stepped away from the door. A thirteen-year-old boy entered, carrying two middle-seized suitcases filled with his belongings.

Harry's room wasn't very large. It had two desks, wardrobes, and one bunk bed. Harry slept in the bottom bed of the bunk bed, used the wardrobe nearest to it and the desk nearest to the single window opposite the door. He never had a room mate before, so the other things had never been used before.

The other boy left the suitcases in the middle of the room and went over to where Harry sat.

"Hello, I'm Carl," he said. "Carl Heinze."

"Harry Potter," Harry answered, somehow feeling uneasy.

"What ya doing?"

"English homework."

"Punctuation and capital letters?" Carl asked with raised eyebrows.

"It is pretty boring," Harry confessed. "But what can you do against it?"

"Well, if you finished maybe we can talk a bit." Carl shrugged. "After all we'll be living in the same room."

"I'm nearly finished anyway," Harry replied quickly, putting his pen down. This Carl seemed pretty friendly, and, who knows, maybe they could become friends.

* * *

"So you were the son of the Prime Minister!?"

"He only was my foster dad, and after a week he gave me back to a children's home saying that I'm a nuisance and troublemaker," Carl laughed. "Had been great fun though."

"I can imagine that."

Carl and Harry had talked the whole afternoon, had skipped supper, been told off for it and were now in their beds talking about their past.

"What 'bout you?"

"Well, I grew up in this dump."

"Dump? Bit of a harsh word, eh?"

Harry shrugged. "it's true," he said. "living here makes you wish you could live on the streets or someplace else. At least there you can do what you want."

Carl stayed silent for a few moments, then he spoke.

"Harry," he said, looking up st the ceiling. "How would you like going away from here?"

"I'd love to, but who on earth is going to adopt me? No one wants me or even likes me," Harry responded bitterly. "Otherwise I'd have been out of here a long time ago."

"You're a good friend."

"How do you know? We only know each other for a few hours."

"you're right, but if I see a good and loyal friend then I know it instantly."

"..."

Carl stayed silent too.

"Carl?"

"Yes?"

"Did you ever wonder what your parents are doing right now? I sometimes do. My parents died in a car crash shortly after I'd been born, so I never knew them. I wonder how it would be living with them..." Harry trailed off in thought.

Carl thought before he answered. "Probably fighting with each other. They never took care of me, that's why I ended up in a home." He knew that his parents couldn't be fighting right now, but Harry wasn't allowed to know the truth. The truth was that Carl's parents had died four years ago, and that Heinze wasn't Carl's real name.


	2. Mr Fulton

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 2 - Mr. Fulton

"Mr. Potter, what do you have to add to 20 to get 25?"

"Six, Miss," Harry replied.

"What!? How did you get that?" the math teacher at St. Jerome Primary School asked, shocked.

"20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. That are six numbers if I'm not mistaken."

"You don't count twenty, you stupid child!" the teacher exclaimed.

"So you count 18, 19, 21, 22?" Harry asked, looking innocently at the teacher with raised eyebrows. This was so boring that he couldn't help irritating his teacher.

"I - you - twenty -"

Before the math teacher could say anything else the door opened and the headmaster's secretary came in.

"Harry Potter, the headmaster would like to speak to you."

Harry stood up and followed the secretary out. They walked through corridors to the headmaster's office.

Three days had passed since Carl Heinze had come to St. Martha's. He had become Harry's friend. They went along pretty good, and Carl hadn't made any other friends yet.

* * *

Mr. Fulton was, other than the math teacher, nice. As soon as Harry sat down opposite his desk he offered him a cup of tea.

"So, Harry. I wanted to talk about your grades," Mr. Fulton began after a few silent moments. Mr. Fulton was a middle-ages man, wore a dark suit and had curly brown hair. His eyes were like a hawk's, not missing a single movement of his surroundings. At Harry's alarmed expression he smiled warmly. "No need to worry, Harry. You've got good - outstanding to be precise - grades. "

Harry had drunken half of the tea and started to feel sleepy. "Then why did you want to talk to me?" he asked, trying hard to keep his eyes open.

"Someone offered you a place in a school for bright children."

"Hm?" Harry hardly understood half of it. He felt sleepier and sleepier. "Offered a school?"

"That's right," Mr. Fulton said, watching Harry's head fall on top of his desk. "Lauren?" he called his secretary.

Laura popped her head in. "Yes, Mr. Fulton?"

"Call Thomas. He can drive Harry to campus. The sleeping pills which have been in the tea will make him stay asleep for about ten hours, and after that Thomas can give him a dose of this sleeping gas Mac told me about.

"Yes, sir," Laura said before she went to call Thomas Mayhew.

* * *

Harry groaned. He had a headache. As she opened his eyes he was glad to find his surroundings in complete darkness. But before hie eyes could get used to the lack of light a smell went up his nostrils, making him feel sleepy again. Before he knew it he was asleep.

* * *

As he opened his eyes groaning in pain he instantly knew that he wasn't at school and neither at St. Martha's Children's Home. He was somewhere completely different, somewhere he had never been to before. The room looked completely different. There wasn't a bunk bed, only a single bed. Then there were only one wardrobe and one desk, looking a lot more modern than the furniture at St. Martha's. There even was a TV, a kettle and miniature fridge.

Harry did not have any idea how he got here. The last thing he could remember was talking to Mr. Fulton about his grades. Hadn't his headmaster said something about a school? Was this it? This school he had been offered a place at?

He pulled the blanket aside. He was naked. That was freaky. Harry sat up and looked around. He guessed that the room was on the fifth or sixth floor. It overlooked an athletics track. There were children running spikes doing stretches. Some other kids got badminton coaching on clay courts off to the side. This clearly was some kind of boarding school. Probably for talented students. But then why was he here? Harry knew that he didn't have any kind of talent.

As he looked around he saw clean clothes on the floor: black socks and boxers, pressed orange T-shirt, green military-style trousers with zipped pockets and a pair of boots with a rubbery smell and shiny black soles. Harry knew that they must be new.

This military-style clothes made Harry wonder if this was where kids ended up if they didn't had some kind of talent. He put on the clothes and inspected the logo embroidered on the T-shirt. It was a winged baby - Harry knew that it was called cherub - sitting on a ball which looked like a globe. Underneath was a set of initials: CHERUB. Harry thought about these initials but they didn't make any sense to him.

Out in the corridor the children had the same boots and trousers as Harry, however their T-shirts were either black or grey, all with the CHERUB logo on them.

"Could you help me?" Harry asked, speaking to a boy who was coming into his direction. "I don't know what I'm meant to do."

"Can't talk to orange," the boy replied without stopping.

Harry looked around. It was a row of doors in either direction. A couple of teenage girls were down one end. Even they were wearing boots and the uniform-like clothes.

"Hey!" Harry called. "Could you tell me what I have to do?"

"Can't talk to orange," one girl said.

the other one smiled. "Can't talk," she said, but pointed to the lift and made a downwards motion with her hand.

"Thanks," Harry said.

He waited for the lift. There were a few other people in there, including a young, well-built adult who wore shorts and boots but a white CHERUB T-shirt. Harry was sure that he'd get some more information from him, so he spoke to him.

"Cannot talk to orange," the man said before he raised one finger, indicating Harry that he had to get out on the first floor. Up to now he had thought this was some kind of joke played on the new kid, but an adult joining was just weird.

The first floor was the reception area. Harry could see out the main entrance into luxurious gardens where a fountain spouted water five meters into the air. The sculpture in the center was the winged baby sitting on a globe, like the logo on the T-shirts. Harry stepped up to a middle-aged woman behind a desk.

"Please don't say Can't talk to orange, I just -" Harry pleaded, but he didn't get to finish.


	3. Doctor McAferty

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 3: Doctor McAfferty

"Good morning, Harry," the woman said. "Doctor McAfferty would like to see you in his office."

She led Harry down a short corridor and knocked on a door.

"Enter," a soft Scottish accent said from inside.

Harry stepped inside. He was in an office with huge windows and a lit fireplace. Doctor McAfferty stood up from behind his desk and crushed Harry's hand as he shook it.

"Welcome to CHERUB campus, Harry," he greeted. "I'm Doctor Terrence McAfferty, the Chairman. Everybody calls me Mac. Have a seat."

Harry walked over to the fire and settled down in an armchair. So did Mac.

"We need to talk," the Chairman said.

"I know this sounds a bit stupid, but I don't remember coming here," Harry said after a moment of silence. "Is this some kind of place where children go when they don't have any talent?"

Mac smiled warmly. "Mr. Fulton, your headmaster, had put sleeping pills into the tea. When you woke up in the van you inhaled sleeping gas. You have a headache now, haven't you?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"Well, to answer your question: No, this is not a place where children go if they don't have a talent, Harry. To be precise they come here because they _have_ got a talent."

"But I don't! I don't have any talent, Dr. McAfferty."

"Believe me, you do. you're smart. It's a talent. Harry, don't waste it because people tell you it's not. It is the best talent anyone could ever hope to have."

Harry's mouth was open. If he had expected to hear something then this was the last. He had thought that Dr. McAfferty would send him back to St. Martha's, angry to have ever brought him here. Angry at Mr. Fulton to have given him a boy with no talent.

"_W-what?_"

"You have heard right," Mac said. "It is the best talent anyone could ever hope to have, and you are lucky enough to be one of the few people who do have this special talent."

"So... what is going to happen? What is this place?" Slowly Harry began to fully understand that all these years many people had told him lies. He had a talent. He did have a talent, only in a different form. He wasn't good at sports or art or music, but for that he was smart, and, like Mac had told him, it was the best talent someone could ever hope to have.

"This place - CHERUB - is there to train children to be spies. You are just the kind of child we are looking for, Harry."

"You try to build onto the fact hat adults would never suspect children to spy after them?"

"See, Harry? This is what I'm talking about. You're probably smarter than some other kids on campus.  
"Anyway," Mac continued, "Until you're ten years old you will learn at least one other language here, get the best education you could get, and, on top of all, you will get physically stronger." He looked at Harry's stick-like arms and legs. "Believe me, once you're ready for basic training you'll have a lot more muscles than now.  
"However, you do not have to become a CHERUB agent if you don't want to, Harry. We don't make you do it. You can pull out any time you're on missions, don't even go to a mission if you don't want to, and we can always find you a foster home if you don't want to be an agent any more. Any questions?"

"Can I go back to St. Martha's for a day or two to think about everything?" Harry asked.

"Of course you can," Mac said. "I will arrange everything. Do you want some tea?"  


* * *

"Harry, Harry wake up!" Carl said, shaking Harry.

"Ohh," Harry groaned, clutching his head. All these drugs had given him a major headache. He should have known that there had been sleeping pills in the tea. Luckily he didn't get drugged again when he'd woken up in the van. Harry looked around. "I'm back at St. Martha's Children's Home? Seems like it had been a dream waking up at CHERUB -" He didn't finish the sentence an put his hand over his mouth, looking wide-eyed at Carl.

"No worries" Carl smiled. "I know everything. I'm a CHERUB agent myself."

"Phew." Harry sank back into his pillows, relieved.

"Kristen wants to talk to you. You've been gone for three days, and she wants to know where."

"What am I gonna tell her?"

"Just tell her that you visited a school in Scotland," Carl whispered, already hearing footsteps coming towards the door.

"You're awake, Harry?" Kristen asked, popping her head in. She sounded quiet angry.

"Yes..."

"Where did you go?" Kristen came into the room.

"A... a school in Scotland."

"And why weren't we informed?"

Harry thought quickly. "I don't know," he answered lamely. "But I myself didn't know anything about it... 3 days ago." Harry held his breath. He'd nearly forgotten how long he'd gone. What would have happened if he had?

"So... but why did we find you half-asleep in front of the door this morning at 4 a.m.?"

Harry looked helplessly at Carl, who shrugged uncaring in reply.

"Well," Harry began, beginning to swear. "I... the ride back from Scotland had been tired."

Carl smiled at him reassuringly.

"How on earth did you get from the train station here?" Kristen continued to question Harry.

"Kristen," Carl interrupted. "I think Harry needs some more sleep. It has been exhausting to go to Scotland, visit a school and come back, hardly getting any sleep." Kristen looked surprised at him. "At least that's what I imagine," he added.

"oh, well. I suppose I can question him later."

"So, when will we go?" Carl asked Harry once the home parent had gone.

"You'll go tomorrow at half-past two p.m.," Harry yawned. "I'm still not sure. If yes, then I'll come with you. If not then not." After he got some more sleep he'd talk thoroughly with Carl about everything.

* * *

A/N: Someone told me a week ago the same thing that Mac told Harry in this chap, so I thought it would give Harry a bit to think if someone told him that he_ had _a talent (the only different thing was that I had been told not to waste this talent on boys).


	4. Norman Large

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 3: Norman Large

A/N: I know that Mr. Large doesn't go back to CHERUB until 1996, but I needed him to be there. So please excuse any confusion about that.

"Carl, how is it to be a CHERUB agent?" Harry asked. He had just woken up again and his friend sat at his desk, reading a book. "I mean, how is it different from the life the children have here at St. Martha's Children Home?"

"Hm. It's exciting. Adventurous. You get to do all kinds of stuff you don't get to do here, like driving a car, learning how to shoot with a gun and so on." Carl had answered without looking up from the book in his hand. "You really should consider coming. It's fun, you get the best education you could wish to get and on top of all you help get criminals into jail."

"How about tests? Don't you have to do some kind of test so that they know that you know enough?" Harry questioned further.

"Yeah, of course. Basic training. 100 days. Tough. Very tough. But hey, once you've passed you can kill bad people without getting blamed for it. You can play burglar and rob out houses. You can travel around the world without having to pay one little penny, not even half of it! Believe me, it's more than rewarding if you choose to become a CHERUB agent and pass basic training."

"You're right, but this all comes so sudden. One moment I'm at school, then suddenly at a secret organization, being told that I could start a new life, back here at St. Martha's and now I have to make the decision. It all just goes too fast."

"I know, Harry, I know. It always comes sudden like this. No one expects to get such an invitation as to join a secret organization chasing criminals all over the world. You're lucky. You won't start basic training for another two years. In that time you can get muscles and learn another language. I only had a month to prepare and get fit. I mean, when I went there at the age of eleven I'd been overweight, and now look at me! Nothing except muscles and a good-looking six-pack." Carl patted his chest.

"I guess you're right."

"Harry, listen to me." Carl put the book aside and looked thoroughly at Harry who still sat in bed. "You can come back with me to campus and start a new life, or stay here at this dull home and regret it your whole life. Make a decision now. I don't care what it is. If you come to CHERUB, I'll help you as much as I can. If you want to stay here, then that's OK. We won't be able to keep contact, but maybe we'll see each other again later in life."

Harry thought hard. A new life? That had been what he'd wanted for so long. But was he ready? Was he ready to start the new life he had dreamed of all these years? He looked at Carl. If he would choose to become a CHERUB agent, then they could stay friends. If he didn't then they probably would never meet again. Harry knew that he had to decide between his present life and his friend which also meant a new life. It was the toughest decision he ever had to make. But he knew the answer.

* * *

"So, I'm Norman Large," a man, Harry had already seen him the first time he'd been at CHERUB campus, said, crushing Harry's hand in a hand shake. "Your handler. Your name?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said, staring at his handler in fright.

"No, boy, your new name," Large said impatiently. He hated to wait. "Like this little pussy friend of yours, Carl Heinz. He based his last name on Heinze ketchup, which he just loves like a girl loves a boy. So, do you want to be called after some sport person? Musician? Artist?"

"Well..." Harry stammered, not knowing what to say. He hadn't thought about changing his name. He had never thought about that Heinz wasn't Carl's real name.

"I'm waiting. Just say some person you admire, for god's sake!"

"Albert Einstein," Harry said hurriedly, taking the first famous person he could think of that he admired.

"Harry Einstein? Doesn't sound right."

"Amadeus Mozart." Harry thought frantically of names.

"Harry Mozart? Doesn't suit you."

"Leonardo da Vinci."

"Harry da Vinci? Too Italian."

"Pythagoras."

"Are you really sure that you want to be called Harry Pythagoras?" Large asked in doubt, his eyebrows raised. "He was Greek, you're British."

"I'm thinking as hard as I can!" Harry defended himself. "Why do I even have to change my name?"

"Because you have to boy, and try to think of names that suit to your ethnicity more than Pythagoras or da Vinci," Large barked. He had only been to CHERUB again for three months, and already he was the enemy of every single agent. If he was something then not patient.

"Then what about Turing from Alan Turing, the English mathematician whose works explored the possibility of computers and raised fundamental questions about artificial intelligence?" Harry questioned. Alan Turing was his idol. When he was older, he wanted to be just like him.

"How do you know so many famous people?" Large asked somehow stunned. "You're only eight. I didn't expect you to know anything except famous sports men if anything at all."

"Never liked sports that much," Harry shrugged. "I'm reading a lot of books about mathematics, history and so on. I came over these names in these books."

"So, Harry Turing?" Norman Large asked, relieved to have this out of the way.

"Yeah. Best thing I can think of. Harry Turing"


	5. Kazuho Yoshida

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 5: Kazuho Yoshida

A/N: tiggerpal07 - thanks for the reviews! This chap is a bit longer than the ones before, just like you asked.

"And this is the junior block," Carl said, pointing at a two-story building. He had volunteered to showing Harry around campus. "That's where you'll be living in until you finish basic training. And this over there is the medical center. That's where you have to go now."

Harry grimaced. "Will it be bad? Will they make me run thirty laps every day?" Carl had told Harry a bit how it had been when he'd come first to campus. He only had one month before basic training, so things had been a little bit tight to get all the fat off.

"Depends," Carl shrugged. "You still have one-and-a-half years left to get fit. It probably won't be that bad. Maybe you'll get vaccinations in a few days, but it's only a check up today. So don't worry about it."

The appointment with the doctor turned out to be OK. Doctor Kessler was quiet nice.

"You need muscles, boy," the doctor said, looking sceptically at Harry who , only wearing his boxers, sat on a table. "You're too skinny. With your stick legs you won't be able to get that far, but once you've got them built up with some more muscles you'll be OK in basic training."

"Do I need any vaccinations?" Harry asked worriedly. He hated needles.

"No, not yet, but next month you'll get an injection against Tetanus and Tuberculosis."

Next was a dentist appointment.

"Hm. Your teeth are in a good state, well done for brushing them so good," the dentist told Harry who was dressed fully again. "Quiet a few boys your age come to me because they didn't brush their teeth regularly and because they ate a lot of chocolate."

After the dentist appointment Carl showed Harry his new room.

"Hi!" two eight-year-old boys greeted as they entered. "You're Harry?"

"Yes," Harry replied, feeling nervous. It was a Sunday, so no-one had lessons to go to.

"These two devils are Cieran Crystal and Hilary Burton," Carl said, laughing as the young boys made some cart wheels, bumping into each other as there wasn't much space in the room. "They were recruited a year ago, Harry. In a month's time they'll both be nine, meaning that they'll start basic training together with you as you'll be nine in July. I'll have to go now Harry. If anyone bothers you, just tell me. And be aware of the campus bully, Kazuho Yoshida. You'll recognize him by his sumo-like body. If you get on his wrong side, he'll squeeze you to death, Harry."

"O - OK," Harry stammered, watching Carl leave.

"Carl's right," Cieran said, his face blank of any expression. "There are rumors that Yoshida broke a fox's neck like you'd break a twig. That fox had found its way here from a nearby forest, and it was unfortunate enough to be found by him first."

"Yeah," Hilary agreed, shivering in fright. "Saw its dead body with the neck twisted. That had been last summer. Large had made me go and get some equipment from the tracks that he'd forgotten the day before, and that's where Yoshida had killed that fox. Most horrible sight, Harry. When I told Mac, Yoshida had gotten grounded for a whole month, had to give his pocket money for that time away in order to pay for a small funeral, and on top of all he broke my arm, leaving him with another two week's inside his room. Broke it like he'd broken that poor fox's neck."

Harry grimaced. "Why don't they throw him out?"

"He's gonna go this year anyway," Cieran shrugged. "Anyway, they need him to do some small jobs, like teaching red shirts like us not to be scared of heights and so on. No-one's better at it than him, which is frightening news as his tactics involve partially pain."

"However," Hilary added, "after he broke my arm he got threatened that if anything like that happens again he'll get thrown out for sure."

"So... what do you usually do on Sundays?" Harry asked to change the subject. He didn't want to think about what this Kazuho Yoshida could do to him.

"Well... either we go swimming, do our homework or play with the other kids," Hilary answered. "What bout we introduce you to our friends?"

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

"Good day, Mac," Carl said, entering the chairman's office. "You wanted to talk to me?" He glared at Kazuho who sat in front of Doctor McAfferty's desk.

"Yes, Carl," Mac said. "Sit down, sit down. It's about Harry."

"Then why is he here?" Carl asked, hardly being able to resist the urge to call Yoshida idiot. Kazuho grunted in reply.

"Because I need both of you," Mac explained. "You, Carl, have to teach him how to swim, and you, Kazuho, have to help him overcome his fear of heights."

"Can't you appoint someone else!?" Carl exclaimed, standing up. "He'll kill Harry!"

"Carl, calm down. Kazuho will not kill Harry. I already talked with him. He won't do anything except doing his job. He's done it before, remember, Carl?"

He gritted his teeth, remembering how he'd been taught to overcome his fear of heights by Yoshida. It had been painful and hard. Carl knew that Harry was nowhere near being strong enough to last through it, but he also knew that it was a good way to prepare for basic training.

"Mac, please," Carl tried a last time. "Think about Harry's conditions. He's not exactly strong, doesn't know what real pain is -"

"I'll teach him," Kazuho smirked, rubbing his left fist with the palm of his right hand.

"- and is too scared of Yoshida. He won't be able to overcome his fear if you try to teach him this way. It won't help but make him fear even more."

"It helped you," Doctor McAfferty pointed out.

"Mac, come on! I had been three years older, had experienced more pain and my fear was probably half as worse as his! I mean, when we walked by the junior block I saw him gulp and stare at it in fear, what d'you think he'd do if you'd tell him to jump down from there? How do you think how he would react -"

"Carl, it's enough," Mac cut him off. "Decided is decided. Kazuho will teach Harry as soon as he becomes nine."

Carl sank back into the chair, sighing. He'd done everything to prevent this. Now he had to do even more to prevent serious damage done to his friend.

* * *

"This is Caroline Heinz - she's Carl's sister - , Ronald* Jackson, Yvonne Palmer, Corey** McLanahan, Ulla Porter, Eileen** McFurrin and Fergal** Tulley," Cieran introduced his friends to Harry. They were standing in front of the junior block. Although it was only April the temperatures went over 30 degrees, and most staff members and agents were inside or in the swimming pool. "Caroline, Ulla, Eileen and Fergal are nine already and start basic training with us; Corey, Ronald and Yvonne will do it after us as their tenth birthdays is while we're on our forty-third day in training."

"You counted?" Harry asked astounded.

"Sure," Hilary said. "None of us can wait to start, so we count every single day until it's time."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Fergal, he had a bit of a squeaky voice, asked. He had huge round glasses and looked just like a nerd. His parents had been mathematicians and scientists, but they died in one of their experiments, leaving him, as he didn't have any relatives which could care for him, in a home where he'd later been recruited to CHERUB at the age of five.

"What about swimming?" Corey questioned. With his round face, big brown eyes, tanned skin and ruffled dirty-blond hair he looked a bit like a farmer's son.

"Yeah!" Ulla and Yvonne exclaimed. They looked like twins with their auburn, shoulder long hair, bright-green eyes and freckles spread all over their faces. They even had the same height.

"Er... guys?"

"Yes, Harry?" Eileen said, smiling. She was a cute little girl with wavy, hazelnut-brown hair, clear-blue eyes and oval face. She thought that Fergal was great, and he in return had a crush on her. Wherever she went she always had a book about botanic with her, though she still didn't understand some parts of it after reading them over twenty times.

"I - I can't swim," Harry confessed, blushing.

"Harry!" Carl yelled, approaching them. "I need to talk to you!"

"Carl! Didn't you have to go somewhere?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah, Mac wanted to talk to me," Carl answered. "Just come listen to me. This is serious. Serious crap."

"What's the matter?" Fergal asked, pushing his glasses back onto his nose. They kept falling forwards.

"Mac wants that Yoshida "helps" Harry overcome his fear of heights," Carl explained.

"What!?" Corey exclaimed. He'd had one encounter with the Japanese bully three months ago. It had been in the dojo when Yoshida had been appointed to help him learn material arts. The sumo-like body of the seventeen year old had nearly crushed every bone in the boy's body.

"I tried talking him out of it, but Mac wouldn't listen. Harry, you've got until the end of next July to overcome your fear on your own. If you don't, then pray to God," Carl said. "Luckily I was appointed to teach you to swim, so that won't be too bad."

"Wait - I have to overcome my fear of heights?" Harry gasped, paling rapidly. He couldn't stand being only ten meters above the ground. It was just too scary for him.

"What did you think?" Caroline asked. she was more than skinny, and looked more like a boy than a girl. "If you don't you'll never be able to pass basic training if you're scared of heights."

"But... how should I do that in three months? That's impossible!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry," Eileen and Fergal said together, blushing lightly as they noticed.

"Of course we'll help you," Corey finished their sentence. "We'll help you whatever it takes."

* * *

* He is NOT Ronald Weasley

** If you know Back to the 80s, these characters might be familiar to you.


	6. Eileen McFurrin

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 6: Eileen McFurrin

A/N: I know that she had already been introduced in the last chapter, but in this one Harry will get to know her better.

* * *

"Harry, come on, I know you'll be able to do this!" Eileen said, pulling Harry up the stairs to the top floor of the junior building.

"I - I can't!" Harry wailed, trying to pull away. But her grip was too strong.

"If you can't do it yourself then Yoshida will do it," Eileen said firmly, opening the door to the roof. she pulled Harry out onto it.

"NOOO!" Harry screamed as she pulled him over to the end of the roof. He managed to pull away and raced into the building and downstairs again.

Eileen sighed, looking over the top of the flat roof. This would be harder than she thought. she walked back inside.

Harry sat in a corner of the staircase, his arms around his head, whimpering.

"Harry," Eileen whispered, crouching down next to him. "I didn't want to scare you. But the only way to overcome your fear is to face it."

Harry had been at CHERUB campus for two weeks now, and was nowhere near being able to even stand on the flat roof of the junior building. All his friends had tried something, but none had succeeded. Only Eileen was stubborn enough to try over and over again.

"C'mon, Harry," Eileen whispered into his ear. "We go downstairs again, OK? Away from the roof. We can practice speaking Spanish if you want to."

Harry stood slowly up, nodding silently. He let Eileen grab his hand, and together they walked back to the room he was sharing with Cieran and Hilary.

"You tried again?" the boys asked in unison as Harry and Eileen entered.

"Yeah, but still no success."

"He needs time," Hilary told his friend. "If you're gonna rush this, he's only gonna be more scared, Eileen."

"Just to remind you, we only have two-and-a-half months left," Eileen snapped. "What else do you want to do? Lie around and ignore the fact that Yoshida won't be as pleasant as we are? He won't be trying anything we haven't tried so far. He'll beat the living crap out of Harry, Hilary."

"Mac won't allow it," Cieran pointed out.

"I'm sure you know which tactics Yoshida uses, don't you?" Eileen questioned, helping Harry to sit down on his bed. "First he threatens you, then he makes the threats become true to make you more scared of him than you already are, and then you'll be free of any fear, except the hugest fear anyone could have: the fear against this bully. Mac won't be going between because he knows that Yoshida's method works, but we all know that Harry won't be able to go through it. He's too weak."

"Stop it!" Harry screamed, holding his hands over his ears. "Stop it!"

"I think we should let him be for a while," Hilary said. "This was too much for him. First you trying to pull him out on the roof and now talking about how bad it will be if Harry doesn't overcome his fear of heights. All you do Eileen is put pressure on him. It does not help."

"Let's see if Fergal already did his English homework," Cieran decided. "Maybe he can help me."

The three exited the bedroom, leaving Harry on his own.

"Mummy...," he whispered, rocking back and forth on the bed. "Daddy... help me!"

* * *

Eileen thought harder than ever of how to bring Harry on top of the roof of the junior building without him screaming the place down. Then she suddenly knew what to do.

"I got it!" she exclaimed loudly.

Her Spanish teacher looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You figured out what _La casa está hecha de ladrillos, y detrás de la casa es un gran jardín. _means?"

Eileen looked perplex at her. Then she remembered that she was in her Spanish lesson. "Er - no, miss. I just figured out... a maths question," she stammered.

"I know what it means," Fergal said in his high-pitched voice, waving his hand around in the air. "It means The house is made of bricks, and behind the house is a large garden.!"

"Yes, Fergal, you're right," the teacher smiled at him. Then she glared at Eileen for interrupting the lesson.

* * *

"Harry!" Eileen said, standing up. She had been sitting on the floor in front of Harry, Hilary and Cieran's room, waiting for her friends to appear.

"No," Harry wailed. "Not again!"

"Only one more time," Eileen begged. "If it doesn't work, then I'll leave you alone, promise!"

"Don't you see?" Hilary snapped.

"You've done more than enough damage," Cieran finished his sentence off.

Eileen stared shocked at them, her mouth wide open. "_Damage!?_" she cried furiously. "Harry, have I done any damage to you?"

Harry looked away.

"See?" Cieran said triumphantly.

"You talk to him as if he's some kind of object," Hilary finished his sentence off.

"And now if you'd excuse us - we've got to do our homework." The boys walked past her. Harry looked sympathetically at her, shaking his head. She just stared at them, not believing what they had said to her.

* * *

"Guys, I've gotta go somewhere," Harry said, putting his pen down. He hadn't been able to concentrate, not since the conversation they'd had with Eileen earlier. She was actually the only of his friends who truly believed that he could overcome his fear of heights. She was the only one who hadn't given up on him. And how had he treated her? Like dirt. He should have said something in her defense to Hilary and Cieran.

"Yeah, we'll finish the homework," Hilary said absentmindedly.

Cieran looked at him. But he didn't say anything, though he had an idea what Harry wanted to do.

Harry exited his bedroom and looked to either side, making sure that no-one was coming. Then, his heart beating fast and hard, he slowly walked up the staircase to the rooftop. Step for step. Heartbeat for heartbeat. Breath for breath.

He reached the door which led out onto the roof. He clawed to the door frame, trying to walk one more stop.

Harry knew he couldn't. He sunk down onto the floor. He knew that he could not do this without Eileen's help.

He walked back downstairs. In which room did Eileen live?

A nearby door opened and Fergal came out.

"Fergal!" Harry said. Fergal turned around. "Do you know which Eileen's room is?"

"Course I do," Fergal replied, pushing his glasses backwards. "Down the corridor, third last on the right."

"Thanks!" Before he could say anything else Harry was running down the corridor. Fergal shrugged and walked out of the junior block, not thinking anything about it.

Harry knocked on the door which should lead to Eileen's room.

"The door's open," he heard her voice. He exhaled in relief.

"Why, what are you doing here, Harry?" she questioned as she saw him. Her eyes were reddish from crying. She looked more than upset. "Don't you have homework to do with Cieran and Hilary?"

"I - I'm sorry about earlier," Harry said hastily. "I want you to help me. I know I can't do it without you. At least not the first step."

Eileen smiled broadly, picked a scarf up and they both went back to the staircase leading to the rooftop.

"So, what do you plan to do?" Harry asked as she was blindfolding him, feeling quite uneasy.

"I thought that maybe if you can't see where you're going and how high you're standing, you might not care about it," Eileen explained. "I'll lead you up. If you can't do it tell me. Ready, Harry?"

"Ready," Harry said. He felt Eileen take his hand.

"OK. There are five steps in front of you," she said. "Slowly walk them up. Good. Not too fast. Alright. Turn left. Three steps. There are seven more steps in front of you."

She told him exactly where to go. Sooner than they both expected they were standing in front of the door leading out onto the flat roof. Until now Harry hadn't said a word of feeling scared. Things were going much better than Eileen had imagined.

"Now, Harry. we are standing in front of the last obstacle. Tell me when you're ready."

"I - I - I'm ready."

"Are you sure? We won't go until you are totally, utterly sure that you are ready to do this."

"I am sure," Harry repeated, his voice sounded stronger. He took a last breath. Eileen opened the door and they walked onto the roof.

"You know," Eileen started talking, "my parents died when I'd been three. In a train accident. Their parents had died years before I'd been born. They didn't have siblings. There were no relatives of mine still alive. Well, my parents had both been forty already when I'd been born, so it's kind of understandable. All of my grandparents had been in their late seventies, early eighties. I think that's a long time to live."

Harry took one step after another, following Eileen's lead.

"I was sent to an orphanage," she continued, her voice slow and soothing. "Then I got recruited. My IQ is 149." She paused. "Harry, can I tell you something?" They stopped walking.

Harry took off the blindfold, not looking down. He knew that they stood at the edge of the roof.

"You can tell me anything you want to," Harry muttered. "Anything you wish me to know, Eileen."

"When I first saw Fergal, I immediately had a crush on him. But somehow... since you arrived I started to develop some kind of feeling for you too. I know, we're only nine, and we both don't actually know anything about love, but... but I have a crush on Fergal _and_ on you, Harry. What shall I do? I don't want to hurt Fergal's feelings, but somehow... somehow I think my love for you is stronger than the love I have for Fergal."

Harry looked thoroughly at her. His whole life had changed so suddenly. Not only had he somewhere to stay where people liked him, but also he had a girl with a crush on him. What was he meant to do or say? He'd never been in a situation like this.

He did the first thing he thought of doing.

* * *

Fergal could not believe his eyes. He stared up at the junior building. Were that Harry and Eileen? What were they doing? Then he saw it. And hatred started to form inside him. Hatred towards the boy who was on the roof  
with the girl.

_Kissing! Harry was kissing HIS Eileen!_


	7. Fergal Tulley

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 6: Fergal Tulley

A/N: I know that he had already been introduced in an earlier chapter, but in this one Harry will get to know him better.

* * *

"Fergal, whatever is the matter?" Eileen yelled, running after Fergal along the corridor leading to the bedrooms in the junior block.

"I do think that you know," Fergal sneered, pushing his glasses backwards furiously.

"I don't."

"Well, maybe you should use your brain for once."

"Eh, excuse me," Eileen said, grabbing his shoulder, forcing him to stop moving. "I am using my brain, Mr. Supersmart."

"Wow. Well done," Fergal said sarcastically.

"Stop playing around! Just frigging tell me what the matter is!"

"You and Harry," Fergal answered through gritted teeth. He pulled free and stormed down the corridor, slamming the door to his room shut.

"Oh no," Eileen groaned. "He saw the kiss."

* * *

"So, you overcame your fear?" Carl asked as he, followed by his little sister, stepped onto the flat roof of the junior block, walking over to Harry who sat on the edge of it, staring across Campus.

"At least the first step," Harry grunted.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Carl asked, sitting down next to Harry. He knew that something wasn't right. "Is someone bullying you?"

"No, of course not." Harry stood up and walked around, thoughtfully. After a pause he asked, "You know Eileen McFurrin?"

"I heard Fergal saw you two kissing," Caroline giggled. she'd made herself comfortable in her brother's lap.

"_You_ kissed Eileen McFurrin, _the _Eileen McFurrin that Fergal Tulley has fancied since he first saw her?" Carl gasped. "They even talk 'bout them two over in the other building. I cannot believe you did that. I mean, it's like Eileen and Fergal are practically married, only that neither of 'em knows it."

"I know. But she said to me here on the roof that she thinks her love for me is stronger than her love to Fergal," Harry said, his hands in his trouser pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Now Fergal is furious at both of us, and Eileen is upset cause he doesn't speak with her anymore. I just wish I'd never come here."

"Harry, cheer up," Carl complained. "Your birthday will be in two months. CHERUB isn't called CHERUB for nothing*."

Harry walked off the roof. "I'll go talk to Mac," he said.

* * *

"You want to know about Fergal's past?" Mac asked with raised eyebrows, looking at Harry who stood in front of his desk.

"Yeah. Something happened between me and Eileen, and now he doesn't talk with either of us. I thought that if I'd know something more about him I might figure out a way to solve this problem."

"Sit down," Doctor McAfferty said. "I'll try to help you as much as I can."

Harry sat down and Mac began the story.

"A year before Fergal was born, both his parents, who happened to be scientists by the way, were captured by Help Earth, a terrorist organization. His parents were researching nuclear atom bombs, working for the Russian government, finishing off their parents work who'd worked on the atom bomb since shortly after World War II. Russia wanted to be ready in case there should be another war, a nuclear war., even if it should take another fifty years. You have to know that Help Earth is a terrorist organization that fights for the environment. They try to get their target by blowing up things, though there has only been two reports which could have been organized by Help Earth."

"How do you know?" Harry asked, not actually wanting to interrupt.

"A member of Help Earth once was a CHERUB agent," Mac answered, standing up. He walked over to the window and looked out, his back facing Harry. "A brave man. Very brave. He warned me. He'd tried to tell me when they'll attack for the first time, but they found out that he's been giving me informations before HE could. They shot him." Mac turned around abruptly. "If you tell anyone only a syllabus about what I told you so far, things could go horribly wrong. People could die if these informations would get into the wrong hands.

"About Fergal's parents. Help Earth didn't manage to kill them. My informant had been able to get an MI5 agent into the organization. He helped rescue them. However, Help Earth had tortured them because they wouldn't give away any information about the nuclear atom bombs. They were crazy when they came free. They were excluded from the world of scientists for being mas. From then on they worked in their own laboratories. Soon after soon after they were blessed with Fergal, though their luck did not hold very long. Mad scientists often die in their experiments. And so did they. Fergal went to an orphanage. Then, a few years later, he was recruited."

"By the way, what do the initials CHERUB stand for?" Harry questioned after a few moments of silence.

"That, Harry, I do not know." Mac shook his head. "But it is quite an embarrassing question if you ask me. I mean, I often get asked, but sadly no one has been able to tell me."

"Who grounded CHERUB?"

"Why, Charles Henderson."

Harry bit his lip, thinking hard. Then he smiled. "What about _Charles Henderson Espionage Research Brigade_**?"

* * *

* If you wonder what I mean with that, say CHER - UB loud. It'll sound like CHEER UP.

** I do not really know what CHERUB stands for, but I imagine that it's something like that.


	8. CHERUB

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 7: CHERUB

A/N: Short, yes, I know, but I wanted to get the whole thing about the initials over. The next one will be longer.

* * *

Mac turned around and looked thoughtfully at Harry. Then he walked over to a filing cabinet in one of the corners of the room. He looked through different documents before, smiling, he pulled a folder out. Still not saying a word he moved back to his desk and sat down, opened the folder and began to read the papers inside.

Harry's eyes had followed Mac's every move, nervous and uneasy. What was that for a file? His own? Did Dr. McAfferty rethink of taking him in? Could he eve do that? Thousands of questions went through the young boy's mind, but he could not answer a single one of them. He started wringing his sweaty hands. Was it him or had the temperature in the room risen?

Finally did the chairman speak, breaking the silence.

"You know, Harry," he began, "that just gave me an idea." He put the folder, closed, onto his desk. Harry's eyes darted immediately at what was written on top of it: _Grounding of CHERUB_.

"My father, who was the one who grounded this organization, Charles Henderson, had been part of the Espionage Research Unit in the Second World War*. Although it can never be proved, I think we can settle down with the idea of the initials meaning _Charles Henderson Espionage Research Unit B_*. What do you think?"

Harry could only nod, relieved that he wouldn't get thrown out.

"So," Mac changed the subject. "How is you training in coming over your fear of heights going on?" At Harry's surprised face he laughed. "Harry, believe me, I know a lot of things you lot don't think that I know, this being only one of them."

* * *

* These are facts that are stated in _Henderson's Boys The Escape_, and _Henderson's Boys Eagle Day_. At the end of _Eagle Day_ it says "The designation of the new unit shall be Espionage Research Unit B." That's how I came to the conclusion of the initials being Charles Henderson Espionage Research Unit B.


	9. Ewart Asker

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 8: Ewart Asker

Now having more knowledge of Fergal's past, Harry tried various other ways of making the boy realize that he was sorry. However, nothing worked. Fergal wouldn't even look at him or Eileen anymore.

After a while Harry gave up, knowing that he had better things to do than waste his time trying to make something happen that never would. Instead he concentrated on overcoming his fear of heights, learning how to swim, and on his studies. After being at campus for a few weeks, he could have conversations in Spanish. In a year's time or so he'd probably be fluent. Suddenly finding an interest in languages, he also started learning German in his free time.

There were trouble though. Yoshida was outraged as Mac told him that he wouldn't need to help Harry; Kazuho had looked forward to it since he'd been told to do so.

One summer night, it was very hot, Harry couldn't get to sleep. He turned around in his bed thousand of times, not understanding how Cieran and Hilary were able to be fast asleep while wearing pyjamas. Finally he decided to take a little walk, though he knew that if he'd be caught he'd be in big trouble for being out after curfew.

After having pulled shorts and a t-shirt over his naked body, he silently left his bedroom and crept down the stairs, looking around catiously as he went out of the junior building. Although the moon wasn't shining, Harry saw the shadows and silhouettes of the different buildings, and by then he'd been long enough at CHERUB campus to be able to say where what building was.

Harry made his way to the lake. He had to pass the changing rooms and the running tracks. And that was when it happened.

"So, you can do it all by yourself?" a voice sneered, grabbing Harry from behind and pushing him against the walls of the changing rooms. He felt how someone put their hand on his mouth in order to make him stay silent. "Can you?" Harry felt the stone wall in his back. It hurt, but he couldn't even breathe properly with the hand covering his mouth and part of his nose.

The person grabbed Harry by his hair and pulled his head forward, then slammed it against the brickwall with all their strength. Pain shot through Harry's whole body. Tears welled up in his eyes. He whimpered.

Again was his head slammed into the wall. Again did he want to scream out of pain. Again could he not make a single noise loud enough fr anyone to hear.

Harry bit the hand which belonged to the attacker, the hand which still covered his mouth.

"You little brat!" the voice hissed, and only then did the boy notice that there was a Japanese accent, no matter how faint. And he knew who it was. Kazuho Yoshida. The bully who'd been meant to help him overcome his fear of heights.

"What's going on here?" another, unfamiliar voice asked. Harry couldn't see who'd spoken, but he felt Yoshida's hand slip away and seconds later the bully had run into the distance, leaving him slumped up against the wall, crying.

He heard someone crouch down next to him.

"Hey, what happened?"

Harry shook his head, the pain so bad he thought his body would explode. Tears streamed down his face.

Lights in the main building went on. Through his watery eyes Harry could make out the person sitting next to him: A stocky boy, aged around 14.

"I texted Mac," the boy went on. He'll be here any minute, along with Dr. Kessler. Do you have any idea who that was?"

"Yoshida," Harry muttered, hearing people - not more than three - approach them. Slowly his senses ceased and everything around him went black.

* * *

"You're lucky Ewart was there," Mr. Large told Harry three days later. "That Japanese boy could've killed you. Good riddance, if you ask me." Kazuho Yoshida had been expelled from CHERUB the same night. "He hadn't been anything but trouble from the very beginning. Caused his partner to fail basic training, you know? Anyway, why were you outside after curfew?"

Harry knew this moment would've come sonner or later. After he'd woken up the day before Ewart Asker, a fourteen year old boy who'd earned his black shirt only three months ago, had a thorough talk with him, as did Mac. He was assured that he wouldn't get any punishment as he already had a small concussuion, but that the next time he shouldn't get off that easy.

"I couldn't sleep," Harry admitted. "So I went out for a walk."

"After curfew?" Large asked with raised eyebrows.

"After curfew," he repeated.

His handler leant back in his chair. "You'll start basic training in September?" Without waiting for an answer Large continued. "If you step out of line there, it could cost you having to start all over again. I'm watching you run laps every day, which started to get you into shape, but that won't be of any help if you injure yourself like this and have to drop out of training, having to wait another three months to start all over again. You realize that?"

Harry nodded.

"I'll do my best in September in order not to drop out," he said.

"That's the spirit," Large smiled.


	10. Ginevra Potter

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 10: Ginevra Potter

Before Harry knew it his ninth birthday had come and passed. Basic training was only a bit over a year away now.

Harry was soon fluent in Spanish and German. He enjoyed English, karate lessons and especially maths. Although Fergal did not exchange another word with him, Caroline chatted more than enough to make up for that.

Even the bestest time of all ended, however, and basic training drew near, only three more months away. Since Harry had come to CHERUB campus only two other children had been recruited: seven-year-old Eric McLaghan and a twelve-year-old girl named Juliet Ewer who had completed basic training only a month before. On the 91st day before Harry and some of his friends would start basic training, another girl arrived.

"This is Ginevra Potter*," Mr. Large said, pushing a small, ginger-haired girl gently into Harry's Spanish classroom. "She's your new fellow pupil."

After the lesson had finished Caroline, Harry, Eileen, Cieran and Hilary went over to Ginevra.

"Hey," Eileen greeted her. "I'm Eileen McFurrin, and these are Harry Turing, Cieran Crystal, Hilary Burton, and Caroline Heinz. Your name is Ginevra, right?"

"Call me Ginny," the young girl whispered. "My mummy and my daddy and my brothers used to call me that all the time before they suddenly disappeared, leaving me on my own..."

"How old are you, Ginny?" Harry asked, brushing his hair away from his eyes. In the last year he hadn't really cut it, so it fell over his eyes all the time.

Ginny looked at him, and her eyes grew big. She pointed at his forehead, her jaw falling down.

Harry gave her a weird look until he finally got what she was pointing at. "Oh - that. The scar?" The girl nodded. "Yeah, I got it when I'd been a baby. Apparently it happened when my parents died in a car crash. At least that's what they told me at the children's home."

Ginny relaxed, breathing out. "And I thought," she muttered.

"You thought what?" Caroline asked instantly.

Ginevra shook her head. "Nothing," she murmured. "Nothing." She knew that they could not tell them. Tell them about Harry Potter.

* * *

* Yes, it is Ginny Weasley


	11. Basic Training 1

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 11: Basic Training 1

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I had a bit of a writer's block.

Basic training began shortly afterwards. To Fergal's great dislike he was teamed up with Harry. Caroline and Cieran were a team, Hilary and Eileen, and Ulla and someone called Paul who had only come to CHERUB a week before training had started. It was tough and the youngsters were more than once pushed to their limits.

_This is tough but Cherubs are tougher_, Harry thought grimly as he stood up from the mud after Fergal had managed to get him down with a karate kick. He tried rubbing the dirt off his face but only made it worse.

"No resting!" Large roared at the youngsters.

Harry used the moment of carelessness to attack Fergal who had been distracted by Eileen falling into the watery mud, screaming loudly. Harry already had his leg high in the air as he brought it down, rushing with the others towards her.

"What the hell is going on?" Large bellowed.

"My shoulder," Eileen sobbed, holding her right shoulder with her left hand tightly. "It hurts!"

"Can you move your arm up and down?" Mr. Winter, another instructor, asked, kneeling down in the mud next to her. Eileen tried but the pain was too great. she bit her lip until it bled in order to hold herself from screaming again.

"I-I'm so sorry," Hilary stammered, not really knowing what was going on.

"Go to the medical center," Large ordered. "Winter, you bring her there."

As it turned out Eileen's collarbone was broken, and she'd have to start basic training again once it was completely healed.

Sooner than any of the youngsters thought 97 days of basic training had passed, and it was time for them to leave the island of Great Britain to finish the last few days of training and to use the skills they had learned, enabling them to really earn their grey shirts. They'd go to the Malaysian Rainforest where the trainees would have to survive and follow a certain route for three days, on the last of which they'd get their shirts if they succeeded. If not, then they'd have to start all over again.

The instructors and trainees spent a night in a hotel before they'd be left on their own.

"It's bad luck Eileen can't be here," Caroline said. She and the others sat on the beds in Harry's and Fergal's room. "Oh, I can't wait to get on missions! Maybe they even let me do one with my brother?"

"Who knows?" Hilary said. He still felt bad about breaking her collarbone. "Who knows."

"Come on!" Harry said, throwing a pillow at him. "Stop sulking and start enjoying the one night before things get really tough."

"He's right," Cieran said firmly, taking a pillow. "You know what? The thing we need now is a pillow fight!"

The trainees spent the next quarter of an hour throwing pillows at each other, and the girls spent a great amount of time screaming their lungs out whenever they were hit.

Paul aimed at Fergal who stood a meter away from the door as it suddenly opened. Having misjudged the timing and not having aimed carefully enough the pillow hit Mr. Large who stood in the doorway into the face.

"What the-" he gasped.

"S-Sorry," Paul said in a low voice.

"The people on this _whole_ floor complaint about you making too much noise," Large said through gritted teeth. "And now I see why." He slammed the door shut and the youngsters could hear a woman in the corridor screaming.

_"...need sleep... stop this racket instantly... can't you control these... yourself not any better... next time I..."_

The trainees couldn't help but explode in laughter, and from both the left and right wall came a thunder of knocking.

* * *

"Phew," Harry exclaimed as he saw a boat and half a hut. The whole day he and Fergal had been wandering through the rain forest following the map they'd been given as good as they could, and now they finally had reached their destination for that evening with another hour to spare.

"Look under there to see what's in the boat," Harry ordered, pointing at the tarpaulin covering the boat. Grudgingly Fergal obeyed while Harry rebuilt the hut as good as he could.

"Is something the matter?" he asked as he heard Fergal giving a little scream of fright.

"N-Nothing," the other boy replied, quickly pulling the tarpaulin over the boat again. "There's food. You continue building up the hut while I cook us something, huh?"

"Yeah, kay," Harry muttered, not giving it another thought.

After a delicious dinner and after trying to translate their instructions for the following day as good as they could the two of them went to sleep. The day had been tiring so Harry slept peacefully, until -

"AHHHHH!"

"What's the matter?" Harry asked sleepily, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes and then he suddenly saw the snake which was ready to attack his partner. He took the first thing in reach - a branch- and hit the snake with it on the head. It fell onto the ground, half unconscious. However, its tail flew around the air, and a second later it wind itself around Harry's arm. The boy gasped as he tried to pull his arm away, but a moment later the snake's tail was too tight around it and there was a _snap!_ as his arm broke. He took the branch again and started hitting the snake as hard as he could. It wriggled away into the distance.

"I-I didn't want this to happen!" Fergal sobbed, still shocked from what had happened.

"Look for the radio," Harry managed to say, not wasting his thoughts on what Fergal had said. "Contact Large or Winter. Tell them what happened."

Quarter of an hour later Large helped Harry get into the helicopter after Hilary, who'd be Fergal's new partner, had got out. He knew that basic training for him was over.


	12. Promise

Decisions which have to be made

Chapter 12: Promise

It took several weeks for Harry's arm to start healing. As soon as the others came back from basic training they visited him and Eileen every day. She however was released a week after Harry had come back, so he found himself during lesson time lonely with no one to talk to. Also while he was stuck in bed everyone else grew slowly away from him. They went on missions, had fun together and built up memories Harry could only dream of having. Everyone except Ginny. Though she'd been several months at campus, she hadn't found any friends. Not having anything else to do she spent most of her free time with Harry, telling him how things were going, asking for help with Spanish and other subjects, just wanting to spend time with someone else. Harry knew that she was keeping a secret from everyone else, but he didn't ask. He knew if the time was right she'd tell, even if it took a thousand years.

So the months went by. Eileen's collar bone had healed completely and she finished basic training four months after the others, leaving Harry behind as well. She and the others hardly found time to visit him anymore, always busy with homework, going off to missions and spending time together. All that was left to him was Ginny. She became like a sister to him, like the younger sister he never had. She brought him news from campus, from his friends. He heard from her that Eileen and Fergal were going out. He heard from her that new red shirts had arrived, triplets. She told him how she had ended up in CHERUB.

"My family and I had been in London," she told him quietly, looking out of the window. "Shopping. One moment they were there and the next they weren't. I cried my eyes out, screamed until my lungs hurt." She gripped the window sill hard, her voice trembling as she remembered. "I was so frightened. People passed me, hundreds, thousands of them and all strangers. I thought I heard my parents and brothers call for me somewhere, but I couldn't see them, no matter which way I looked." A single tear slowly fell down her pale cheek. "And then there was a police officer. He was kind, took me by the hand and led me to the nearest police station. They asked me lots of questions there. I answered as best as I could, not knowing what exactly was happening. I still asked for my parents, my brothers, but they said everything would be alright. Then they drove me to this children's home, saying that I'd be picked up once they found out who my parents were and where they were. However, days passed without any news. Then one day a new boy arrived at the home." She couldn't resist smiling. "Carl. We became friends, and then one morning I woke up here, and I was told I'd be going to live here and if I liked that. Of course I asked if I could see my parents again, but they told me that unfortunately no one could find them."

"Why did you choose Potter as your new last name?" Harry dared to ask. He'd listened silently to every word she had said.

Ginny turned around to look at him. "Where I come from there is a famous person called Harry Potter, and when they asked me what I wanted my surname to be I had to think of him. You know, he should be around your age, born on July 31st."

Harry gasped. "I'm born on July 31st!"

Ginny gave him a sharp look and the next second she sat next to him on the bed, brushing away his hair from his forehead. She inspected the scar.

"Yes," she breathed, excited, relieved. "Yes! You are him, Harry! You are Harry Potter!"

"But, how can I be when that boy is living where you used to live?" Harry asked irritated.

"That boy disappeared the day after he became famous," Ginny whispered. "It has to be you! There's no other explanation for the scar, for the name, birthday! It cannot be a conscience."

"Then... what is he famous for?"

She stepped back, looking at him. "Harry, you are my only hope to find my parents again, to find my family. On your eleventh birthday you will get a letter delivered by an owl."

"Owl?!" Harry exclaimed disbelievingly.

Ginny crouched down and took his hand in hers, looking into his eyes pleadingly. "Yes, an owl. Harry, you will give the owl an envelope which you will receive from me the day before your birthday. Tie that envelope to its leg, and let it fly off again. Please, promise me that you will do so."

"What if I do not get this... owl - letter."

"You will, Harry, you will. I know it. Promise me now. Promise me that you will do as I told you."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Harry said, suddenly determined. "Ginny, whatever it takes, I will help you find your family."

The time came when Harry's arm had healed fully. He had three months left until basic training would start in September.

In the junior building nothing much had changed, other that some new red shirts had moved in and the majority of his friends had moved out. In his bedroom was a new boy called Darren. They got along okay.

"Hey, we heard they finally let you out," Eileen said entering Harry's bedroom the same day. She had grown and looked a lot more like a proper girl.

"Yeah," Harry muttered.

"How about we go into town tomorrow evening, hang out at the cinema and so on," Cieran suggested, coming in after her.

Harry glared at them. "You know very well that _red _shirts are't allowed to leave campus."

Eileen elbowed Cieran.

"Oh yeah," he said hastily. "Sorry. I forgot. It's so different being -"

Eileen elbowed him again. "What he means is that we're all missing you in the other building. But we haven't got much time now. Cieran and I came back from our first big mission yesterday, and there's a lot of homework to catch up on.

Harry watched them leave, and only then did he realise how much they had actually grown apart. And everything just because of stupid Fergal.


End file.
